Machine for feeding sheet-metal blanks.



imgagze A. SLAYSMAN, JR. MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET METAL BLANKS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1908. 934, 4 Patented Sept.21,1909.

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7 2 17 2x 3 iv-wow 8 i imam? A. SLAYSMAN, JR. MACHINE POE FEEDING SHEETMETAL BLANKS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1908.

934,848, Patented Se 1, 9. 7 283B 5 2.

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ALEXANDER SLAYSIVIAN, 33., GE HAMILTON, YMARYLAND.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET-BEECLQL BLANKS.

934,8d&

Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented isept. 2i, 19139.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, iiLiixiivnnn Stars- J iz, a citizen of the UnitedStates, re siding at i'lilllllltOll, in the county of Baltimore andState oi Itlacvlznrd, have inventtail certain new and usefulimprovements in Machines for Feeding tdheet-il'letal Blanks, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for feeding sheet-metal blanks.

[he object of the invention is to provide means for automaticallyfeeding sheetanetal blanksone blank at a time-from a pile of blanks, toa machine where the said blank will be subjected to some usefuloperation.

The blank-feeding machine of this invention may be attached to acan-body forming machine, or any other machine.

T he invention illustrated in the accoinpanying drawing, in whicln Figure 1 is a top plan view of the blanki'eeding niachine. Fig. 2 is anelevation showing the discharge end or the machine. Fig. 3:3 a sideelevation of the machine. F is a vertical sectional elevation on theline l% of 1. Figs. and (3 show the pusher that gives the initialmovement to the sheet-metal blank.

The sheetinetal blanks are piled one upon the other, and the pile isplaced on the machine, and a movable pusher gives initial movement to asingle blankthe lowermost one oi the pile, and the blank thus started isgripped by a pair oi rollers which completes the movement oi the blank;the blank is discharged between the rollers; this is a brief statementof the mode of operation of the blank-feeder.

The numeral, 1, designates a base having a smooth, fiat, level top, 2,and the base is provided. at its discharge end with two posts, 3, one ateach corner; the base in the present instance is also provided. at itsfront end with an upward-projecting bearing, '-l, which is bored toreceive a horizontal screw, which has two collars, 6, (5, one at eachside of the bearing, i, so that the screw can ireely turn in the bearingwithout advancing. One end of the screw has a knob 7, by which it may beturned. A plate, 8, rests upon the smooth top, 2, of the base, and inthe present instance said plate is slidable thereon for the purpose ofadjustment; this plate has at its front a short post, 9, which is boredand screw-threaded to receive the end of the viii,

said horizontal screw, 53. it will be seen that by turning the screw, 5,the plate, 8, may be given a sliding movement either forward or back.'The plate also has two slots, 21,, and crews 2, are in the base, 1, andproje through t'hefisluts in. the plate; these set-screws when tightenedserve to hold the plate, 8, in the posi n to which it has been moved bythe adjusting screw, 53.

The adjustable or slidable plate, 8, has on its upper surface two ears,10, to each oi which a vertical stanchion, 11, is jointed by apivot-bolt, 12, which enables the stanchion to take two positions,either to stand so that one of its edges, 13, will be perpendicular, orto be tilted back on the pivot, 12, to an inclined position, as will bereadily understood. The stanchion is retained in the perpendicularposition by a spring-catch, 1i, secured to the stanchion and engagingwith a notch, 15, on the rounded top of the car, 10. By releasing thespring-catch from the notch, 15, the stanchion, 11, may be tilted backto an inclined position. The pivoted stanchions will not tilt forwardbecause first, the lower end, .16, ot' the stanchion is squared or at aright-angle with respect to the perpendicular edge, 13, and second,because the pivot-bolt, 12, is located near the edge that is opposite orremote from the said perpendicular edge, as seen in Fig. i.

A suitable movable pusher is provided to give initial movement to thelowermost sheet-metal blank in the pile of blanks. In the presentinstance the pusher mounted on plate, 8-, and has a rotary form. Theplate, 8, has two bearings, 17, for a rotary shaft, 18, that extendscrosswise oi the plate; this shattcarries one or more circular heads,19, each oi which is provided at its rim with a slight projection, 20,which will engage the edge of only one sheet-metal blankthe lowermostone-and push said blank far enough to give itthe initial n1oveinentherein mentioned. One form of con struction for the movable pusher isshown in detail in Figs. 5 and 3. Here the shaft, 18, has a ring orcircular head, 19, keyed thereon, and the push projection, 20, in thisinstance comprises a flat narrow blade haw ing a. slot, 23, and saidblade is seated in a peripheral groove, Qel, cut on the circular head; aset-screw, 25, passes through the slot in the blade and enters the saidhead,

and this set-screw holds the blade firmly in an adjusted position. Oneend of the blade has a chisel-edge, or beveled edge, 20, and thisconstitutes the slight projection before referred to on the rim of thecircular head, 19. When this projecting beveled edge, 20, becomes wornthe blade may be adjusted to take up the wear by means of the slot, 23,and the set-screw, 25. In this rotary form of blankpusher device theperpendicular edge, 13, of the stanchions has position directly over theaxis of the shaft, 18, that carries the pusher, as seen in Fig. i.

The two stanchions, 11, comprise one side of the housing that receivesthe pile, 26, of blanks. The opposite side of the housing comprises thetwo vertical bars, 27, which are supported by a truss-bar, 28, extendingcrosswise and having its ends resting upon the corner posts, 3; screws,29, secure the vertical bar, 27, to the truss-bar. A pair of gripping orfeed-rollers, 30, one roller being above the other, are mounted inbearings, 31, in the said corner posts, 3. These feed rollers serve tocomplete the movement of the blank. At one end these two rollers havegear wheels, 32, which mesh together, and at the other end one of therollers, 30, is provided with a pinion, 33, and on the journal end ofthis same roller a driving pulley or gear wheel may be placed fordriving the machine. Each of the two vertical bars, 27, has its lowerend notched or cutaway as at, 34, (see Fig. i so that the extremity, 35,of the bar may extend down along side of the uppermost roller, 30,nearly to the line of separation between said two rollers. A plate orbar, 36, extends horizontally across the machine adjacent the saidfeed-rollers, 30, and a little below the said extremities, 35, of thetwo vertical bars, 27, thus a narrow open space sufficient for a singlesheet of metal to pass, is left between the top surface of said plate,36, and the said lower extremity, 35. The position of the pile-ofsheet-metal blanks, 26, is seen in Fig. at, where the pile showncomprises only a few blanks; the blanks are slightly on an incline, oneedge resting on the circular rim of the rotary head, 19, and theopposite edge resting on the plate, 36. The pile, 26, of blanks ishoused or confined between the two upright stanchions, 11, and the twovertical bars, 27. The width of this housing space may be increased ordiminished by turning the adjusting screw, 5, as already described. Ateach of the two sides of this housing space, which contains the pile ofsheetmetal blanks, is a standard, 37.

It will be seen that in the present instance,

and for the purpose of securing the feature of adjustability of the sizeof the housing space, the rotary shaft, 18, that carries the revolvingpusher heads which give initial movement to each blank, is mounted onthe slidable plate, 8, while the two feed-rollers which complete themovement of the blank are mounted on the stationary posts, 3. In orderto permit the said plate, 8, to slide for the purpose of making anadjustment, and at the same time to maintain a connection of the gearwheels between the shaft, 18, and the feed-rollers, 30, a special geardevice has been provided. This comprises a gear-wheel, 38, on the end ofpusher shaft, 18, and an intermediate gear, 39, which engages bothgears, 38, and, 33, and transmits the motion. All three of thesegear-wheels are at one side of the machine. The intermediate gear, 39,is suspended by two links, 40, and, ll, which connect, respectively,between the shaft, 18, and the spindle, 12, on which the intermediategear turns, and between the journal of feed roller, 30, and saidspindle, a2. As shown in Fig. 3, the two links, A0, and, A1, hang in theform of a V, and it will be understood that if the slidable plate, 8,should be moved toward the bearing, at, on the front of the base, theposition of these two links, 40, and, 41, would slightly change, and theV- form would be widened, and the intermediate gear raised. If theslidable plate, 8, should be moved in the opposite direction, the V-formof the two links, a0, and, 4:1, would be narrowed, and the intermediategear, 39, would be lowered. It will be understood that at no time inmaking these adjustments will the three gears, 33, 38, and, 39, bedisconnected; for practical reasons this is important.

The numeral, 13, designates a tubular upright box directly over thebearing, 31, of the feed rollers, 30. Two of these boxes, 43, areemployed, one being over each bearing, 31. The top of each box has ascrew, 4%, with a square head; this screw is to increase or diminish thepressure ori a spiral spring which is inclosed within said tubular box,43. The said spiral spring is indicated by broken lines in Fig. 3.

In View of the foregoing description the operation of the machine willbe understood by the following additional explanation.

To place the sheet-metal in the housing the two stanchions, 11, may betilted back to an inclined position, first releasing the spring catches,let, from their notches, 15, to permit this tilting. Then a lot ofsheetmetal blanks should be placed in the housing and piled up as at,26, one upon the other. The lowermost blank of the pile will have oneedge resting on the circular rim of the two rotary heads, 19, and theopposite edge of the blank will rest on the plate, 36. The blanks may bepiled as high as the stanchions, 11, and bars, 27. After the desirednumber of metal blanks have been placed in the housing the stanchions,11, should be restored to their normal vertical position. The placing ofa pile of blanks in position within the housing may be done withouttilting the stanchions, if desired.

Rotary motion being applied to the 11 usl1er-shatt, 1S, and teedrollers, 30, the ettect will be that the slight projections, 20, on therims of the circular heads, 19, will engage the edge of the lowermostblank ot' the pile, 26, and push said blank, or give it an initialmovement; the blank will thus slide through the narrow open spacebetween the lower e: ;tremity, 35, and the top surface of the plate, 56,which guides the blank be tween the two feed rollers, 30; the moment thefeed-rollers grip the blank, the latter will have its movementcompleted, and be rapidly drawn through and discharged onto suitablemechanism of the machine to which this blank-feeder may be attached.

As has already been stated, the form or construction ot the pusherdevice that im parts initial movement to the blank, may be dilterent,and it is not necessary tnat it be rotary.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patentis,

l. The combination of a stationary base; a plate slidable on said base;a housing having two vertical sides to receive a pile of sheet-metalblanksone of said vertical sides being mounted on the stationary baseand the other side mounted on the said slidable plate; a movable pusherto give initial movement to the lowermost blank in said pile, and saidpusher mounted on the slidable plate; and teed-rollers mounted on thestationary base and adapted to complete the movement of said lowermostblank.

2. The combination of a circular head mounted on a rotatable horizontalshaft and having on its rim a pusher; a housing having two verticalsides between which sheetmetal blanks may be piled so that one edge ofthe lowermost blank will rest on the rim oi the circular head-and thevertical edge of one of said sides having position directly over theaxis ot the said horizontal shatt. and means to complete the movement ofthe lowermost blank utter it has been started by said pusher.

The combination of two vertical sides between which sheet-metal blanksmay be piled one upon the other,one of which sides has its lower endpivoted or hinged to enable it to tilt back; a movable pusher to giveinitial movement to the lowermost blank in the pile without disturbingthe other blanks; and means to complete the movement of said lowermostblank.

l. The combination of stationary base; a plate slid-able on said base; ahousing; having two vertical sides to receive a pile of sheet-metalblanks-one of said vertical sides being niolnited on the stationary baseand the other side mounted on the said slidable plate; a rotary pusheron a sha t to give initial movement to the lowermost blanksaid pushermounted on the slidable plate; a pair of feed rollers mounted on thestationary base and arranged to complete the movement of said lowermostblank; a gear wheel on the pusher shaft; a gear wheel on one of the teedrollers, and an intermediate gear-wheel connecting said. two gear-wheelsand suspended by two links, l0, and, ll, whereby the width of thehousing may be adjusted and. at the same time maintain a connection ofthe said gear-wheels.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALEXANDER SLAYSIlli-KN, JR.

ll itnesses Cnas. B. Mann,

G. FERDINAND Vootr.

